I have sold the more recent watch winders by Fun, Inc, (and they work well), but the older "Royal Magic" Watch Winder is nicer, made of heavier metal, and works perfectly, and louder. They recently sold a Fun Inc/Royal watch winder of lesser quality than these older Royal (only) winders -- the more recent Fun Inc/Royal watch winders were also made in USA, but from a lighter weight metal.
Up until about 1995, the Royal watch winders were a beige/flesh colored metal, but then they went to a silver-colored metal, still fairly heavyweight, but lacking the flesh color. (More recently, the silver-colored winders they make are a lighter weight metal.)
This listing is for one of the better quality, heavyweight versions of the silver-color outer housing (from the early 2000's). They have a strong, loud sound when clicking.
NOTE: as you can see in the photos, the winder housing has some rust/tarnish -- this is surface only, and does not effect the sound of the winder or its working. These winders, although never previously owned (from new-old dealer inventory), are about 20 years old, and the rust/tarnish is a result of longterm storage. The instruction sheets are also discolored and have minor rust stains, but are completely readable. I took a photo of the "worst" winder I had for rust/tarnish, so the one you get will probably not be as bad.
I recently did some research and discovered that the watch winder gag goes back at least to the turn of the century -- a watch winder was advertised by Martinka in 1898, and Hoffman's Later Magic (1904) describes the prop. Over 100 years later, the prop still gest great reactions -- surprised amusement from adults, and shrieks of joy from kids!
I just found a few of these better quality Royal silver colored watch winders among some "new-old" dealer inventory -- I estimate they are from the early 2000's. yes, they have some rust/tarnish on the housing, but the noise wheel works great, and no one ever sees the gimmick anyway. The sound is better than the newer lighter weight ones.
This handy little device can be easily stolen from your jacket or pants pocket, and then used to create a loud, raspy clicking noise. The original use was to activate it while pretending to wind your watch, and the audience hears the watch being wound up very loudly. But the instructions provided with it give you 24 more ideas -- everything from cracking your neck or back as you bend over, to winding up your deck of cards before you do a card trick. Other ideas include using it as your screw in a lightbulb or twirling your mustache.
I often use my watch winder in my birthday shows, when shaking a young volunteers hand -- as the kids arm moves up and down, it seems to crackle. The kid sometimes thinks it is really his arm, and the other kids go nuts, of course.
Use your imagination and you will have fun with the Watch Winder. Easy to do, but does take a bit of practice to use this smoothly without too much hand movement. There is plenty of misdirection for most uses, based on larger movements covering the smaller ones.
Again, these watch winders are from new-old dealer inventory -- they are new and unused, but 20+ years old, and reflect the higher quality of production on the prop that was used back then. Just remember, that they do have some rust/tarnish as shown in the photo. (And the instruction sheet is discolored with age).
Get one and start having more fun! These are getting hard to find. I have a few of them left...
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